Photographer Calls Out Taylor Swift For Hypocrisy In Apple Music Saga

By all accounts, today should be a victorious one for Taylor Swift, after the Shake It Off hitmaker pulled off a crushing power play against Apple Music, issuing an open letter of disappointment over its policy of not paying artists during an early trial period and forcing the tech giant to change its mind.

However, among the chorus of cheers in creative circles everywhere, music photographer Jason Sheldon is gaining attention for having a hard time buying the altruism of Swift's missive, having issued a response letter of his own to the pop star in which he — while conceding he "admire[s]" and "applaud[s]" her protest — accuses her of being "guilty" of "the very same tactic" as Apple on the business side of things herself.

Pointing to an image of a contract issued to photographers "before they are allowed to do their job" and take pictures of Swift for editorial outlets, Sheldon explains that, on signing off, snappers are subject to what amounts to "a complete rights grab" for the resulting photos.

"How are you any different to Apple?"

"Forgive me if I’m wrong, but if you take points 2 and 3 in that contract ... it appears to be a complete rights grab, and demands that you are granted free and unlimited use of our work, worldwide, in perpetuity," Sheldon wrote.

"You say in your letter to Apple that 'Three months is a long time to go unpaid'. But you seem happy to restrict us to being paid once, and never being able to earn from our work ever again, while granting you the rights to exploit our work for your benefit for all eternity…"

"How are you any different to Apple?" he continued. "If you don’t like being exploited, that’s great.. make a huge statement about it, and you’ll have my support. But how about making sure you’re not guilty of the very same tactic before you have a pop at someone else?

"Photographers need to earn a living as well. Like Apple, you can afford to pay for photographs so please stop forcing us to hand them over to you while you prevent us from publishing them more than once, ever."

Sheldon rounds out his letter with a plea to Swift to "do the right thing" and change her own policy on payment on photographers, mirroring her own request to Apple not to ask musicians "to provide you with our music for no compensation".

"With all due respect to you too Taylor, you can do the right thing and change your photo policy," Sheldon wrote. "Photographers don't ask for your music for free. Please don't ask us to provide you with your marketing material for free."

You can read the full letter at Sheldon's blog.